Turkey bans 3 books on Kurds, court summons authors

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Turkey has decided to ban the sale of three books written about Kurds on the grounds that they display “the character of a terrorist organization.”

According to Turkish Duvar news agency, a court in Adiyaman city in southeastern Turkey has decided to summon the authors of the books to appear before the court.

The three authors are Fehim Tastekin, author of Rojava: Time of the Kurds, Faysal Dagli, author of Civil War of the Kurds, and Aytekin Gezici, author of Kurdish History.

The case was launched by Adiyaman province's Kahta Public Prosecutor’s Office on October 2.

All three of the books have been on sale in Turkey for many years. The Civil War of the Kurds was published in 1994 by Belge Publishing House. Kurdish History was published in 2013 by the Tuku publishing house. And Rojava: Time of the Kurds was published in 2016 by Iletisim Publications.

Reacting to the news on Twitter, Tastekin noted that his book was published legally and said someone had to “invent evidence” to build a case.

A journalist, Tastekin said his job is to “bear witness to the truth.”

A book can’t be a terrorist organization, he said.

Turkey’s decades long conflict with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) was reignited in July 2015. Since the failed coup of July 2016, Ankara has carried out a widespread crackdown on alleged coup plotters as well as including targeting opposition and Kurdish media and activists.